A new compilation from DJ Ali B is just the latest event in one of dance music’s longest lasting but rarely acknowledged infatuations
The blues can seem like the most unassailably archaic of genres. Reggae, jazz and even folk have their cycles of modernisation and reinvention, but for whatever reason adoption of the blues by musicians – whether dad pub bands or high-concept arch throwbacks like Jack White – often seems to imply traditionalism and small c conservatism.
There are always exceptions, however, and the worlds of sampling and DJ culture have a hidden history of repurposing the blues in more interesting ways. This week, a former resident at London’s Fabric nightclub, DJ Ali B, has released a seamless DJ mix of tracks by John Lee Hooker, BB King, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Sonny Boy Williamson. There’s no technological radicalism to it – just ultra-slick selection and sequencing, and neat blends from one track to the next – but it throws new light on the tunes as immediate, strange and fully functional in a modern club, rather than as museum pieces.
by Joe Muggs via Electronic music | The Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment